Free string match encoding and preview

Abstract

A system for entering data in a format that is easy to use, enabling selection of encoding format and displaying the resulting search data string in format to enable generation of byte sets for supplying to free string match algorithm for application to network data.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application 61021873, filed Jan. 17, 2008.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to encoding and previewing of search string data.[0003]In network test environments, for example, a technician is often looking for particular data strings, for the purpose of debugging or testing the network, or searching for networking problems or event occurrences.[0004]Communications protocols have generally well defined structures consisting of specifications for the order and contents of fields within a message. Fields within a data stream in a given protocol may be sent in packets, a combination of values that control the flow of data, sometimes referred to as protocol header fields, or payload fields that contain information that is exchanged between devices on a network.[0005]Information contained in a packet is often “encoded” to facilitate efficient processing by the compu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]In accordance with the invention, a user interface is provided for entering data in a format that is convenient for a user and using the selected encoding generates the byte sets required by the data acquisition system's free string matching algorithms, significantly reducing the effort required to create valid byte sets for the data acquisition system. The user can also view the resulting byte sets in a preview window.

[0013]It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved network test system that enables a user to easily enter and encode strings for matching in a variety of encoding and protocol situations.

[0014]It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved system that allows the user to see how the string data entered by the user will be encoded in a selected encoding format.

Problems solved by technology

Since a network may be employing a variety of communication protocols and data encoding types, it can be cumbersome or impossible to find a particular data set or string in raw data received by a network test instrument.

In a network test and measurement situation, for a user of packet capture applications for network testing, creating an encoded packet filter or trigger specification, to look for data or activity on the network as a part of the testing / measuring, can be difficult and error-prone, as the different protocols and encodings that may be in use result in data on the network that is complex to decode manually.

Translating values that a user is interested in to the specifications required by the string match algorithm can be difficult, because a given encoding may involve complex rules.

Images